Stuck on Earth
by Baseplate
Summary: Story inspired from a friend. What if Zim never landed on Earth and never began operations? NORAD intercepts and engages Zim's Voot Cruiser. Zim crashes and is discovered by Dib when he takes his girlfriend out to Ark Point. Dib takes Zim into his house and decides the Irken will stay with him undercover as his step brother. Possible ZaGr later.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I don't know how juggling both this story and Battle for Earth: The Hunted is going to go, but hopefully I can update both equally. Not going to make much promises on that note though. This story was inspired from a sheet my friend gave me to read, I thought it was a good story to work on. So I hope you enjoy and leave a review !**

Chapter 1, First Contact

**ATC-5, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)**

"Sir, AN/FPS-6B unit thirty six suggests that the unidentified flying object is heading right for-" Before the younger air traffic controller was able to finish his sentence, the oldest of the twenty men stationed in the tower interrupted him as he peered down at the rapidly moving blip on the illuminated green radar screen.

"I see it Stav. I want two F/A-16's in the air and closing on it's vector, if it fails to identify itself within a kilometer of the city, I want it shot down. We don't need another 9/11 here."

"Right away sir," The younger operator flicked a few switches on his control board near his radar station, then pressing the activation button to his mic on the right side of his headset. Speaking into the mic clearly and in a monotone voice, the operator began. "Shield base, this is NORAD Command Five. Defend order: deploy two F/A-16's, object marked and available on Cross-Com systems. Command orders: craft is to be shot down one kilometer outside the city if the pilot fails to comply after one attempt."

A voice broke over the headset and replied to the ATC operator who issued the orders. "Shield base copies all, deploying two F/A-16's on defend order thirty clicks outside Earth City. Will send traffic. Out."

* * *

**Zim's Voot Cruiser, twenty five kilometers outside Earth City**

"Planet... Earth? This must be the place." Zim, the little green alien, slowly pushed the yoke in between his legs downward and began a more rapid decent toward the ground. "Okay, first off, we have to set up a base of operations."

Zim's robot assistant, who had pretty much annoyed Zim half to death during the six month long trip through space to reach his objective planet, let out a small electronic giggle.

Zim reacted. "Focus GIR! This is where your advanced information gathering skills come in handy-" Before Zim was able to finish his sentence, another electronic voice, one much deeper in comparison to GIR's, spoke out. "Warning: unidentified aircraft closing. Incoming transmission."

Zim sighed in annoyance as he reduced the Voot Cruisers speed. "Put it through then." He said, pinching the bridge in between his eyes where his nose would be.

The cockpit of the Voot Cruiser burst with the sound of static for a moment before a male voice spoke. "Pilot of the unidentified craft. You are instructed to turn around and we are to escort you to NORAD Shield base. If you fail to comply, you will be shot down."

Zim looked over to his right to see a very large, slender grey craft pulling up beside him. The pilot inside the, in his opinion, ugly craft, was pointing backward with his thumb. Zim looked over to his left to find the same craft pulling up beside his Voot as well, Zim looked at GIR confused, who would only shrug before aimlessly wondering into the troop compartment in the back.

Zim sat down in his pilot seat before speaking to his ships computer. "Computer! Open a communications link with these... NORAD... Things."

With a few electronic beeps and a conformation signal, Zim began to speak. "You dare threaten me?! Zim?! As if those poorly designed craft could even keep up with superior Irken technology. You will fear the might of Zim when I become-" Zim paused with his hands raised above his head, ceasing his shouting into the mic and looking over to his right to see the grey craft falling back. He looked over to his left to see a similar sight.

Zim fell back into his chair and took control of the yoke once more. "Ha! I knew they would cower before the might of Zim."

The ships computer burst out in a manic tone. "Warning: incoming missiles. Two hundred meters and closing fast!"

Zim shot up off his seat and peered out the right side of the window to find two dark silhouettes propelled from backward flames in the night sky. He quickly jumped to his left and pressed his face up to the large viewing window to find the same two objects closing in on him. He stood by the window, only turning his head to the computer mainframe mounted to the front of his cockpit. "Computer! Launch counter measures and return fire!"

Multiple dull thudding sounds could be heard from the outside of the Voot cruiser as the computer deployed at least ten bright pink flares out of the Voot's chassis. Three muffled booms were heard just moments after the flares were deployed, slightly rocking the ship, Zim jumped to the troop compartment and dropped the back ramp. The sound of the servo motors activating and turning the defense turret mounted to the top of the craft could be heard, soon followed by the sound of the twin plasma cannons firing simultaneously. But the defense weapon wasn't firing at the jets chasing Zim down, it was firing at the fourth and final missile locked to the Voot.

Zim turned around and screamed in a shrill voice. "Computer! Launch counter measures!"

The computer simply replied. "Counter measures offline."

Zim figured the counter measures he launched had _just _saved his Voot, but in turn the missile blast radius damaged the flare deployment ports as well as the underside defense weapon. Zim reached over to his right and slammed a button, closing the back ramp, and quickly running to the cockpit, hoping in his seat and strapping himself in. "GIR! Hold onto something, if that plasma cannon can't get rid of that missile, we have no choice but to go down!"

GIR simply scooted around on his butt on the troop compartment floor and faced the cockpit, tucking his knees into his chest and stupidly smiling in Zim's direction.

"Five..." The ships computer began. Zim took a hold of the ejection lever and pulled it. "Warning: ejection seat malfunction."

"What?!" Zim gave it another hard tug in an attempt to escape his doom on the ground. No luck.

"Four... Three..."

Zim leaned over as much as he could to the right to see where the missile was, but he couldn't spot the missile nor the jet that was chasing him. He quickly leaned over to his left, same thing. No jet. No missile. The plasma cannon ceased fire, Zim figured the missile was now under his Voot, and it was about to shoot up and tear the bottom hatch open like a can of Vort dogs.

"Two... Impact!" His computer called out, a split second before the missile struck. Sending Zim jerking forward, slamming his face into the cockpits control board with a grunt. Zim recovered and rubbed his face before quickly stealing a glance at the troop compartment. Just as he suspected, the missile had dived down, came back up, and landed a hit that had ripped almost half of the bottom of his Voot apart. He looked out the front of his cockpit window and started pulling the yoke upward, struggling to maintain his altitude.

"Computer!" Zim shouted, still pulling the yoke back. "Voot status!"

"Voot hull integrity: 37%. Tanks two through five damaged and leaking. Imminent power and hydraulics failure. Ground impact in thirty seconds."

Zim looked out the window to his left to see a hill overlooking a very large, light polluted city that illuminated up the night skies with a white glow. It was now clear to him what these jets were defending, and he was now regretting the decision he had made to outrun and outgun the jets that now blasted over him at nearly 300 Km/pH.

"Twenty seconds." The computer alerted Zim.

"GIR?!" Zim called out, still attempting to pull the yoke back and prevent his Voot's nose from smashing into the ground.

"Yes, my lord?" GIR burst into the cockpit, red eyed and saluting.

"Send out a distress call back to Irk! I'll try to keep the Voot airborne."

"Right away!" GIR saluted once more before running to what was left of the troop compartment, tip toeing around the large hole in the floor that burned with small amounts of fire, then quickly accessing the communications gear stowed in the back, promptly following the order Zim issued, typing in the message and sending the distress call before returning to the cockpit. "Transmission sent." GIR reported.

_'Hopefully I'm still alive when the Tallest receive that message.' _Zim thought to himself.

"Five seconds." The Voot's computer reported.

This was it, Zim let go of the yoke and pulled down the roller coaster like safety harness securely around his neck and over his chest, just as they zipped past what seemed like a small parking lot.

* * *

**Dib's car, Parking lot of Ark "Make out" Point, five kilometers outside Earth City **

Dib was more nervous than he had ever been in his entire life.

His palms were sweaty and he felt as if his heart were beating any faster it would leap out of his chest.

His arm felt numb resting behind Zita's neck and on her right shoulder as she leaned closer to him, her hands on his chest and her head rested on his shoulder. Dib averted his gaze from her and looked to the city, trying to find peace in a time of what he thought was utter chaos.

Come to think of it. Dib had come a long way since the sixth grade.

He was now eighteen years of age and in Hi Skool, graduating this year. He had long since put his trench coat on the hanger in his closet and given up on paranormal studies, even though he missed it at times, he enjoyed being normal and belonging to the popular group in Hi Skool. Which is why he was sitting with Zita in his car, and it was no wonder why she had suggested they come to Ark Point.

He came back down to Earth as Zita spoke out. "Dib?"

"Hm?" He looked down to her. That nervous feeling coursing throughout his body once more.

"What do you think?" She asked, looking up to him with her dull brown eyes, blowing the long purple bangs out of her eyes.

"What?" Dib shook his head and gave her a dumb look.

"Did you even hear anything I-"

Zita was interrupted by the intense burning light growing behind Dib's car. Both Dib and Zita turned their heads and peered through the back window, they found nothing but the light growing brighter and brighter, as if the sun were coming down above them. They both looked at one another, confusion filling their faces, a second later, the ground shook as a thunderous boom passed over the vehicle with Zita shrieking and grabbing Dib, nearly squeezing the life out of him.

"Zita." Dib barely managed through in a raspy voice.

Zita let go of Dib, he caught his breath and simply said. "Wait here." As he exited his vehicle. Dib closed the door and ran over to the guard rails that prevented vehicles from over shooting the parking lot to catch the sight of the flaming ball of death smash into the ground a few hundred meters below him with a deafening crash, surrounding plant life quickly caught fire as dirt was kicked high into the air, leaving a trail of torn grass and dirt behind the flaming object.

Dib couldn't believe what he had just seen. His childhood years were revived and came rushing at him as he ran back to his car, ripping the door open and practically yelling at Zita. "Zita! I'll be right back, don't go anywhere!" It's not like she had much a choice, he didn't think she was going to walk all the way back to the city in heels, or steal his car. She only sighed moments before Dib shut the door, bolted for the guard rail and vaulted over it, leaning back as his feet dug into the ground, sliding down the hillside closer to the crash site of the flaming object.

_'Satellite? Meteor? Dare I say... Foreign spacecraft from another world?' _Dib shook the thought out of his head. _'Nah, couldn't be. The eleven year old doesn't live in you anymore Dib. You're eighteen.' _

Dib had reached the bottom. The pungent odor of a gasoline like substance filled the air as dull green smoke arose from the pink flames. Dib neared closer, less than a hundred meters now, he raised his arm to shield his face from the light emitting from the strange flames. He got closer, and to his astonishment, it seemed craft like, bulbous and somewhat large compared to a jet... It didn't loom human in design. Dib walked to the left, finding what he thought was the rear of the craft, the back ramp blasted open and broken on the ground. Dib took off his grey sweater and wrapped it around his face, squinting through the smoke as he walked inside the craft.

Dib couldn't believe what he was seeing, even though everything was shaken about what seemed to be a troop compartment, and dirt replacing the torn steel floor, there was no doubt that this craft was not of this world. Strange symbols filled undamaged screens and monitoring systems around the back. Strange pieces of equipment were strewn about the compartment as well. Dib looked forward to what he would guess was the cockpit, a single seat divided two entry points to the back compartment, the front window was smashed and stray wires hanging from the ceiling sparked occasionally.

Dib's heart stopped as he heard a groan come from the cockpit. Dib looked closer, seeing only a gloved hand hanging from the right side of the seat. Dib started to slowly walk backward, hoping not to make any noise.

_Clank!_

Dib froze as the back of his sneaker hit something metallic and heavy. He slowly turned his head and looked to the back of him, finding what looked like some type of machine that resembled a medium sized child. The eyes of the little robot sparked to life in a bright teal color, then jumping to it's feet and waving sporadically at Dib and exclaiming in a cute metallic voice. "Hi!"

Dib froze for a moment before hesitantly raising his hand and slowly waving back. "Uh, hey?"

"G... GIR?" A weak voice came from the cockpit.

GIR's eyes, shoulder joints and center chest piece flashed to a solid red as he entered duty mode, quickly responding to the mysterious figures call for him by running to the cockpit and saluting to the limp, unseen body in the cockpit seat. "Sir?"

"Status report." The figure said, again in a weak voice. Groaning in pain as he began to stand up from the seat.

"All ship systems offline. 46% gear intact. Communications uplink disabled." GIR's eyes, shoulder joints and chest piece turned back to teal as he stuck out his tongue and pointed directly at Dib. "And there's a nice man here to help us!"

Dib froze.

Petrified by utter fear. He wanted to turn around, make a mad dash up the hill and back to his far. Throw the gear in reverse and blast out of the parking lot, then throw it into drive and peel away from the scene as fast as he could.

But, the eleven year old obsessed with paranormal studies wanted to stay. Wanted proof that something other than humans existed in the universe. He wanted proof that all those years he was thought as crazy, that _they _wrong, not him.

"A what?" The voice arose from the cockpit once more. The sound of boots hitting the metal floor echoed throughout the ship.

"A nice man!" GIR ran over to Dib, grabbing his hand and tugging at it, urging for Dib to follow him to the cockpit. But Dib planted his feet and remained in the back compartment.

About five seconds later, a tall slender frame rounded the seat. Head lowered with one gloved hand holding where his temple would be, the tall, green skinned being wore black pants, a dark pink top with thin black stripes horizontal along the chest and stomach. The pink shirt sported a light pink collar that rapped around the beings neck with matching shoulder boards. He sported black leather boots that looked about 18" high, his gloves matched his boots and reached just below his elbow. Dib squinted at the beings hands, he only had three fingers. If green skin, antennas, and three fingers wasn't enough proof that this being was an alien foreign to Earth, Dib didn't know what was.

The alien started to look up, the first thing Dib saw were the two large, ruby red eyes looking at him. The alien raised his head more to reveal strange zipper like teeth clinched together, reason more than likely being pain, no doubt from the crash.

"What are you?" The alien spoke out, now standing upright.

Dib didn't know to answer with. '_Dib? Teenager? Popular kid?'_ So he decided to answer with a basic answer. "Human?" He shrugged.

The alien growled. "How do you not know what you are?"

Dib was about to speak, but the alien beat him to the next sentence. "Whatever you are... You're pretty ugly." Offended, Dib was about to lash out and about to argue with the alien about appearances. "Never mind. If you're here to help, then help me get out of here. Do you have means of transportation?"

"Why should I help you?" Dib asked, readjusting the sweater around his face.

The alien pulled a small pink pistol like weapon from a holster on his right leg. Most Irkens in the Imperial Navy would identify the weapon as the standard issue P-44 sidearm. The power cell on top of the sidearm gave power to micro electrical generators in the gun to rapidly heat the gas into plasma, the plasma is then directed out of the barrel by the use of electromagnetic coils lining the interior, each coil activates in sequence before the plasma is generated into an electrical projectile.

"Cause if you don't," The alien began, moving his hand down to the right side of his torso, then removing his hand, his glove was stained with almost glowing emerald blood. He looked back to Dib. "I'll have to shoot you."

Dib raised his hands to about chest level and looked to the alien. "Okay, okay. I'll help you. Just put that thing away."

"I'm glad to see you're willing to comply with the proper persuasion." The alien re-holstered his weapon. "GIR! Retrieve all sensitive data material and make preparations for the ships destruction. We can't let our technology fall into the hands of the enemy."

GIR stiffened out, entering duty mode. "Yes, sir!" His eyes and joints in turn returned to teal and he started to walk off. "We're gonna blow things up!"

The alien quickly returned to the cockpit and retrieved a small purple, metal suitcase before slowly exiting the ship. "Let's go." The green alien, nearly matching Dib's height at 6'2", commanded Dib to follow. Dib simply followed the alien outside of the ruined craft, they stepped outside when Dib asked. "So... Do you have a name?" He spotted the strange grey backpack like device on the aliens back, that consisted of three light pink circles that matched the collar and shoulder on the aliens uniform. "And what's that thing on your back?"

The alien answered without facing Dib. "My name is not of importance. And the Irken PAK is a device too complex for you to even comprehend."

"Irken?" Dib asked with a rasied brow.

The alien spun around and faced Dib with a rage in his eyes. "Who said anything about being Irken?!"

Dib's face was now filled with confusion. "You just did?"

"Lies!" The alien yelled out, throwing his hands above his head.

"Demolition charges set and all sensitive data and materials retrieved." GIR returned with red eyes and saluting in the aliens direction.

"Good. Let's get out of here then." The alien said.

"Where's all the stuff?" Dib asked the little robot.

GIR's eyes turned teal as he pointed to his head as he stuck out his tongue. "In my head!" He yelled out. "It feels funny!"

Dib smiled at the little robot. He seemed pretty goofy, but that's what made a person fun. "Focus GIR!" The alien yelled out. "Detonate the charges as soon as we reach..." The alien turned around to face Dib. "Where are we going?"

Dib pointed up the hill. "To the parking lot. Where my car is parked."

"Very well. GIR! When we reach the humans transportation vehicle, detonate the charges."

"Okie dokie!" GIR replied in a loud voice.

(Five minutes later)

Dib, GIR, and the strange alien Dib had discovered had just reached the guard rail, now hoping over it all together.

"GIR!" The alien called out. "Detonate the charges!"

GIR entered duty mode. "Yes, sir!" He saluted before presenting a small clapper like device. He squeezed the small lever that rested on his palm, the lever pushed on a small button under it, Dib turned around to find the site of the crash go up in bright green fire as the ground shook. The alien smiled at the scene, Dib figured this alien was the strange small kid at the playground obsessed with fire.

"Zim." The alien said, still facing the fire.

"What?"

"My name. It's Zim." The alien said, facing Dib.

"Dib." Dib stuck out his hand to shake.

"Get that disgusting five digit thing out of my face!" Zim slapped Dib's hand away. "I only felt the need to tell you my name so you don't come up with idiotic nicknames for me, like... Something idiotic!"

Zim started for the car, Dib followed a few seconds after. A feeling coursed through his body as he remembered Zita was still in the vehicle. Dib was about to leap for Zim to prevent him from opening the passenger door.

"No!" Dib called out, reaching out for Zim's arm.

But it was too late, Zim pulled the handle of the door up and pulled the door open. Dib winced at the sound of Zita shrieking from the inside the vehicle. Zim shouted in turn and jumped back, upholstering the P-44 and taking aim.

"No, no!" Dib tackled Zim just as he fired a shot, the energized bolt of plasma smashed through one of the back windows on the passenger side and struck the interior of the driver door.

"Unhand me you filthy creature!" Zim raged as he forcefully pushed Dib off of him, once again taking aim in the direction of the open passenger door. Dib quickly jumped to his feet and fanned out his arms as he jumped in the way of the weapon Zim wielded. "Are you crazy!?" Dib yelled at Zim.

"Me? Crazy? You're the one who has a shrieking beast stowed in your vehicle!"

"That's my girlfriend!" Dib shifted left as Zim had.

"Your what?" Zim slightly lowered his sidearm.

"My partner."

"Mate?" Zim asked with a confused look plastered on his face, now fully lowering his sidearm.

"Yeah. Whatever you call them on your planet. Geeze, it's like you've never had one of your own."

Zim holstered his weapon and gave Dib a disgusted look. "Don't be absurd. Irkens need no mate. Even if we did feel the need, no one is worthy of Zim!" The alien exclaimed with his hands rasied high above his head, hands balled into fists.

Dib wiped the spit from his glasses. "Yeah, sure."

"D-Dib?" Zita called out, shaken up from the even that had just taken place.

"Zita!" Dib turned around and placed a hand on her right shoulder. "Are you okay? Did he hit you?"

"Y-yeah, I'm just," Zita looked out the door to find Zim standing behind Dib with his hands crossed over his chest. She shrieked again and jumped back in her seat. "Oh my God! What is that!?"

Zim pressed his antenna to his skull and shook his head. "You humans sure are strange."

(End Chapter)


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2, New Family Member

**Irken Flagship 'The Massive', Telecommunications bridge **

The Massive. The very mention of this Bludgeon Class assault carrier could strike fear into the hearts of any Ship Captain and shatter their will with unrelenting plasma, laser and proton fire. Not to mention the vast Armada that always escorted perhaps the largest ship in the universe. The Massive was capable of projecting heavy amounts of power toppled with fear anywhere it could be seen throughout the universe, but this wasn't the case, it had no mission at the moment, the other Invaders had just been sent on their own assigned missions, so The Massive and the escorting Armada had no need to be near a planet commencing massive invasions or organic cannon sweeps.

The sound of an incoming alert brought both the Irken Empire's leaders, Tallest Red and Tallest Purple, to their feet... Metaphorically speaking, the two leaders, both the exact same height, utilized hover belts that allowed them to control their movements through the air without ever having to set a foot on the ground for as long as they wanted.

One of the navigators, wearing a uniform similar to an Invaders, minus the black horizontal stripes and adding a high collar which wrapped around the wearers mouth and a headset like device that covered where their ears would be and wrapping around the back of his head, was sitting in front of the long range communications control board. He pushed a few buttons and information filled his own personal screen at his station. He reported to the two Irken leaders, still facing his own screen. "Incoming burst transmissions from..." He squinted at the screen, the other dark green eyed navigator sitting beside the one with dark red eyes leaned in to see what the first navigator was trying to read. "Eaaarth?" The second navigator finished the first one's sentence.

Purple, the 'Second in command' as most Irken soldiers would describe him, began. "What is," His antenna perked up. "Earth?"

"Eh," Red lowered the plastic cup with a bendy straw hanging out the top. "Put it though!" He said, raising his cup high in the air before taking another sip from the near empty drink.

The main viewing screen, which was about ten feet by six was placed directly over the navigators and right in front of the Tallests view, turned pitch black as white Irken symbols started to fill the screen, both leaders read the message as the navigators continued with whatever they were doing before the transmissions had come through.

* * *

/ MAYDAY / / MAYDAY /

:::INCOMING IRKEN DISTRESS BEACON:::

:IRKEN VOOT CRUISER UNIT #S1076

:WARNING!

:ANGLE ALTERATION DETECTED

:ANGLE: 45°

:WARNING!

:UNEXPLAINED COURSE ALTERATION

:GRAVITATIONAL FORCES UNDEFINED

:SPEED INCREASING

:SPEED: 125 KM/PH

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait." Purple said waving his hands in the air. "Did you notice what type of ship that was?"

Red looked to his co-ruler with a bit of confusion in his face and it clearly filled his tone. "No, why?"

"Look," Purple pointed to the first bunch of symbols. "Right there! Voot Cruiser unit number Sierra ten zero seventy six." Purple looked down to one of the navigators. "You there, run a record search for an Imperial Navy registered Voot Cruiser, unit number Sierra ten zero seventy six!"

While Purple hovered to the navigator to monitor his progress in the search, Red squinted and continued to read the message.

* * *

:SHIP STATUS: CATASTROPHIC LOSS

:CREW CAPACITY: 9

:CREW SURVIVING: 1

:SURVIVING CREW MEMBERS: INVADER FIRST CLASS...

* * *

"No," Purple called out to Red. "He couldn't have..."

Red's eyes widened and his antenna perked up completely as he read the after crash report and the status of the lone surviving crew member.

"Red!" Purple called out, now facing his co-ruler. "I know who that Voot belonged to!"

"Zim." Red said, in a near regular volume voice, but just loud enough for everyone to hear. Questioning voices lifted throughout the telecommunications room, they were all probably asking the same question that was running through Red's mind.

_'How could he still be alive?'_

Red looked up to the screen to finish reading the message.

* * *

:SURVIVING CREW MEMBERS: INVADER FIRST CLASS ZIM OF THE IRKEN IMPERIAL NAVY

:REQUEST IMMEDIATE EXTRACT

:WARNING!

:(!) POTENTIAL IRKEN TECHNOLOGICAL EXPOSURE RISK (!)

/ END TRANSMISSION /

* * *

Red sighed, clasping both his hands behind his back and lowering his head, pressing both his antenna flat to his skull as he closed his eyes. Purple looked up to him along with the rest of the bridge crew.

"It looks life we have a choice to make..." Red began to his co-ruler and the bridge crew.

* * *

**Dib's car, down the road from Dib's house**

Dib had dropped off Zita at her home, who was now stammering her words, talking to herself quietly, occasionally gasping as she turned her head sharply in another direction...And more than likely needed medical assistance for her current mental state. Oddly, Dib didn't seem fazed that the fact an alien had just crashed on the planet, threatened to kill both him and his girlfriend and was now sitting in the passenger seat with an annoyed look on his face as the little robot stuck out his tongue as he poked the alien's head from the back seat.

Dib stopped at a four way intersection when the traffic light turned red. Dib slowly turned his head toward the passengers seat and faced Zim without saying anything. Zim's right antenna perked up as he crossed his arms over his chest, then facing Dib. "What?"

Dib continued to stare at Zim.

"What!?"

Dib just squinted at him as he leaned a bit forward. "Are you actually real? Or is this just some sort of weird dream?"

"I don't know what that is, and quit looking at me like that. It's creepy." Zim faced forward and fell back in his seat.

Dib reached out and poked Zim's face, Zim snapped his head left, unfolding his arms and grabbing Dib by the wrist, then twisting it back. Dib grunted as the twisting motion made it feel as if Zim were going to pop Dib's shoulder out of it's socket. "Okay, okay! Not a dream! Not a dream!"

Zim let go of Dib's wrist, plastered his hands on the dashboard and nearly shoved his face into the windshield, peering at the red glow from the traffic light. "What is that?!"

Dib slightly leaned forward, also looking at the traffic light. "What? That traffic light?"

"Traffic light, eh? What makes this device so powerful that it made you stop in your tracks?" Zim shot over the gap in between the two front seats where the little item compartment, cup holders and stick shift could be found, grabbing Dib by the collar. "Can this device be the answer to universal conquest?!"

The light suddenly turned green.

Dib opened Zim's hands balled in fists around the collar on his shirt and slowly pushed him back in his seat. "No. It can't." Dib took both hands and firmly grasped the wheel, taking his foot off the brake and giving the engine a little gas, with that, his car began to roll forward and he started back to his house again.

"What was that then? Why did it make you stop?" Zim said, torso turned back and facing out the back window.

"You could look behind us in the mirror like a normal- Yeah." Dib realized he wasn't even talking to a human. "Anyway, the reason I stopped was because it was a traffic light. Like a stop sign, it tells us when to stop so I can know when it's safe to cross the road so I, or anyone else causes an accident."

"And," Zim sat back in the passenger seat facing Dib. "You _can't _use those devices for universal conquest?"

Dib simply sighed as he turned right into a driveway. "No. Zim. You can't." Dib turned the key and the engine shut off with a brief humming sound as the head lights shut off. "Well, here it is. Home sweet home."

Zim opened the door and stepped out, staring at the, as he found the jets that shot him down as well as Dib's car, ugly in design housing unit. It was a strange purple house with both circular and rectangular green windows. The roof was a strange grey and greenish semi-circle. Zim kind of liked the blue electric fence surrounding the lawn, he would have liked it more if it were pink though. Zim took the purple case that he had taken from his ship before he blew it up and told GIR to exit the car before closing the door.

Dib blocked Zim's path into his house. "Yeah, you can't go in there looking like that."

Zim pressed one of his antenna to his skull as he rasied the other. "And why's that?"

"Because my sister's probably sitting on the couch in the living room."

"A what on the what in the what?"

"Sister: family member. Couch: something comfortable to sit on. Living room: a place where a lot of humans go to relax."

"So?"

"Yeah, humans don't usually see aliens from other worlds too often. Hence the reason Zita went through a mental breakdown."

"How does your entire race not know of the Irken Empire? Eh, I guess it's standard protocol to blend in with the indigenous population." Zim pulled off his left glove, exposing his hand as he pulled up his sleeve to reveal a dark purple material that wrapped around his forearm, reaching just below the elbow. He brought up what would be his index finger and slid it from the side nearest to his elbow and quickly dragged it down to his wrist. Suddenly, a holographic screen began to emit from the dark purple device around Zim's arm, bringing up an interface maybe the size of a laptop screen.

Dib took a few steps forward, his jaw dropped in awe as he studied the simple looking piece of equipment and the illuminated holographic screen it emitted. Zim typed in a few commands and the frame of a human appeared on screen. "Eh," Zim placed his index finger on the hologram and swiped leftward, taking the image of the human off the screen and bringing up another one. "Eh," Zim said, again swiping his finger across the screen. He was about to dismiss another new look he could have taken on before noticing Dib gaping at the device. "What? It's like you've never seen a hardlight PAK uplink interface before."

"A what?" Dib shook his head, coming back down to reality and standing upright.

"Never mind." Zim said, rapidly scrolling through the models. "Ah-ha! Perfect!" Zim stopped scrolling for a moment.

"Can I see?" Dib asked, slightly raising his neck at Zim.

"Uh, sure," Zim took a few steps toward Dib and extended his arm, presenting the disguise to Dib.

"Oh, that's just stupid!" Dib exclaimed, pointing at the hardlight interface.

"What!? I think it looks good!" Zim said, smiling at the model. The model on screen didn't make much a difference to his current appearance. It showed a model of Zim, except in the model he sported a wig with gelled up hair and contact lenses with purple pupils to cover his large, bug like pure ruby ones. "You don't know what you're talking about, human."

"I've lived here long enough humans don't have purple pupils, green skin and a lack of a nose or ears." Dib said, folding his arms over his chest and raising one of his brows.

"Fine!" Zim said, panning back to the previous model before the wig and lens model. The current model on display presented one with the same hair style of the wig, a long sleeve, thin sweater with magenta and grey stripes lining horizontally in a pattern over a plain grey t-shirt, Zim's current pants would be replaced with a pair of jeans that fit him perfectly at the waist, but were at least one size bigger for the legs. Zim's current 18" leather boots would be replaced with a plain pair of black skateboard shoes. He would loose the gloves and a pair of large headphones would wrap around his neck to act as the high collar around his neck.

"Well, here goes nothing I guess." Zim said, looking away from the hardlight interface as his index finger slowly and hesitantly made it's way to the confirmation button. With a strange beep, Zim had pressed the red button the size of a small coin that lay in the top left corner of his hardlight interface, the sound of three short beeps was heard a moment later and the interface closed, Zim then pulled the sleeve down and put his glove over his hand and sleeve.

A few short moments later, a hydraulic _whoosh _sounded directly from behind Zim, Dib figured it was from the strange thing Zim identified as a 'PAK', and a single metallic orb rose from behind Zim. A second after the orb defied the laws of gravity by simply and silently hovered a foot above Zim's head, a tiny slit in the bottom opened up and an intensely bright flash of light shined throughout the driveway. Dib shielded his eyes with both arms as he looked away and closed his eyes as tight as he possibly could. Who knows what would happen if he looked directly into the light.

In a moment, the light quickly died and Dib uncovered his face by lowering his arms. He blinked a few times just to make sure what he was seeing was actually before his eyes. Just as the display model had shown in the screen, Zim was standing in the exact same clothes, with the exact same dark black hair due, same dark brown eyes, same everything. It was almost as if the model had some how jumped off the interface and replaced Zim entirely. The orb returned to Zim's PAK, Zim turned his torso to reveal his newly disguised PAK, which was just a plain black backpack roughly the same size as Zim's PAK had been.

Zim took in a deep breath and exhaled. "Well, do I look human?"

Dib fanned out his arms in Zim's direction. "As human as any other."

Zim simply shook his head up and down, grasping the handle on the small purple case and started toward Dib's door. "Good."

"We need to think up a new name for you though," Dib said following Zim. "Zim isn't a very common name on this planet. But we'll take care of that later."

"GIR!" Zim called out. GIR was picking at the blades of grass on Dib's lawn, but he quickly snapped to and saluted to Zim. "Yes, sir?"

"Dib, where is your dorm within this housing unit?"

"Right there, why?" Dib said pointing at the largest window on the second story to the right.

"GIR! Infiltrate that window port and await further orders!"

"Yes, sir!" GIR quickly saluted before kicking up a dust cloud in his wake as he activated the small rocket boosters under each one of his feet. Shorty after reaching the window, he disengaged the small rocket boosters and clung onto the windowsill with both hands, the top of his head split in half and opened up, a small weapon looking device popped out of his head and a small laser emitted from the weapon.

"No, no, no! What are you doing!?" Dib said with both his hands on top his head, clinching his teeth together.

"Don't worry. He's only cutting a hole big enough for himself to fit through then he'll shortly begin repairs." Zim said, waving him off. Zim then paused for a moment, flexing his newly gained two extra fingers, studying them from all sides. "So strange." Zim whispered to himself.

"Yeah. There's a lot of stranger things on Earth than having five fingers. Come on, let's get inside. I have school tomorrow." Dib told Zim in a slightly tired tone.

"You have what?" Zim asked confused, following behind him.

"School. I have school."

"What's that?"

"It's where you learn stuff. Science. Mathematics. History. Don't you have schools on your planet?"

Zim thought a moment. "No? But we have military academies we train in underground until were about thirty or fifty after we're born."

Dib paused just outside the front door. "Wait, so you're telling me the day you're born you train for half a century?"

"Well, after evaluations and other formalities. Yeah."

"How _old _are you Zim?"

Zim looked to the sky and thought a moment before facing Dib and shrugging. "A hundred and twenty? I don't know, I don't keep track as often as I should."

"A hundred and twenty!? What's your species life span!?"

Zim shrugged again. "Three hundred? Three fifty? Somewhere around there. Hey! You got any snacks?"

Dib gave Zim a stupid look before shaking his head and turning the doorknob and pushing the door open. "I don't know, I'll check the fridge." Dib stepped inside the house through the doorway, kicking off his shoes and arranging them beside one another in the porch closet.

"Check what for snacks?" Zim asked in confusing as he walked into the house.

"Never mind." Dib said closing the door behind Zim. "Oh yeah, house rule, you gotta take your shoes off at the door."

"That's a stupid rule." Zim said kicking off his shoes haphazardly, leaving them to land wherever gravity decided they would... Which would be on top of Dib's head before they fell to the porch floor, Dib only sighed as he caught up to Zim who was walking into the living room. Dib planted his hand on Zim's left shoulder as he came up on his right, slightly moving him to the right toward the stairs. "Yeah, you don't want to go in there while Gaz is on the television."

"Gaz? Tele... Tele..."

"Television. It's something we use to watch programs. And Gaz is my younger sister."

"Oh, okay." Zim said pretending to understand what Dib was talking about.

"Anyway, just head upstairs and the first door on the right leads into my room. Just go and wait in there."

"All right." Zim said, starting up the stairs. Zim reached the top and now stood in front of the strange piece of wood filling the gap in between some sort of frame carved into the wall which looked like wood to Zim. Such a primitive material. Zim grasped the circular doorknob and tried twisting it, but it wouldn't budge. He tried turning it the other way, no luck that way either. Zim looked down the stairs and very slowly reached for his PAK disguised as a backpack. He grasped his P-44 and aimed at the doorknob and grinned as he internally laughed. He squeezed the trigger and the loud echo of plasma discharging from the barrel could be heard throughout the hallway as the doorknob melted away and wood splintered all over the floor. Zim put the P-44 back in his bag and slowly pushed the door open.

Zim peered into the room. The floor looked as it were constructed from cinder blocks, a simple blue rug was laying in the center of the room with a grey human eyeball. There was a small single bed the size of a naval cot in the far corner of the room, it reminded Zim of one of the infirmary beds. At the foot of the bed was a small night stand that matched the height of the bed with a few strange items on it's top. Zim turned his head to the right to find a metal desk with a few pieces of foreign technology resting on top of it, Zim could really only identify what looked like him to be a monitor of some sort. There wasn't much else to see other than a closed closet to his far left and a few posters plastered on the wall.

Oh right, GIR, Zim couldn't find him anywhere, he looked to the space in the wall in between the bed and the desk to see the window that Zim had instructed GIR to enter through. Zim saw the hole in the window and a circle of glass laying intact on Dib's bed that would fill the hole back up and repair the window. Zim scanned the room once more, but couldn't catch sight of him whatsoever.

"Who are you?" A female voice asked from the hallway behind Zim.

Zim turned around to find a female human standing at least a head size shorter than him. The human had short, strangely colored dark purple hair. She wore a tight, long sleeved sweater that reached about the thigh on her legs and sported a high collar. The arms of the sweater were a dark grey with thin black stripes. Her leg wear only consisted of what looked like striped tights, the black stripes matched the shade of her sweater, and the medium colored purple match the belt loosely secured around her waist with a skull buckle that matched her skull necklace.

"Are you gonna answer me?" The female asked again, placing on hand on her hip and giving Zim a strange look with her piercing amber eyes.

"Eh, who are you?" Zim asked.

"I'm Gaz. And you are?"

"What are you doing here?" Zim asked with a stupid look on his face.

"I live here." Gaz said with a rasied brow. "Now who are you and why is there a hole in my brother's door?"

"He's our step brother!" Dib said, rushing in and grasping Gaz' shoulders, smiling nervously.

"Step brother?" Gaz asked, giving Dib an odd look.

"Yeah! Now if you would excuse us, I'm going to bed our newest family member set up. G'night!" Dib shoved Gaz out of the doorway as she groaned at him, he quickly stepped into his room and slammed the door shut before Gaz was able to say anything. Dib looked at where his doorknob used to be. "That's a good question," Dib turned around to face Zim and yelled at him. "Why is there a hole in my door!?"

Zim nervously laughed before he began. "Well, you see, the thing wouldn't turn so I kinda-"

"That's why we have keys, Zim. And that's why I have my door locked." Dib dug in his pocket and presented a small gold key to Zim. "And I'll get you a set for the front door so you don't blast a hole in that one either."

"So... This is my new home?"

"Temporarily I guess. You can sleep on the couch for tonight until I find a better arrangement."

"Irkens don't need sleep." Zim plainly stated.

"Everyone sleeps sometimes. When was the last time you slept?"

"Fifteen or so years ago."

"So, you don't want to sleep on the couch?"

Zim sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "No. No I don't."

"Suit yourself, then you can study human things before we enroll you into high school tomorrow morning."

"Study? And what's this high school?" Zim asked.

"Study, you know, where you pick up a book and read about things. And yeah, I'm going to enroll you in the school, you're not going to sit around here and destroy the house while me and Gaz are gone all day."

"You humans are a step down compared to Irkens. All I need to do is download data into my PAK."

"Lucky you." Dib said.

Quite suddenly the closet doors burst open and out jumped GIR laughing manically, Dib turned in the direction of his closet to find a bunch of strange equipment neatly set up in the closet. "Good work GIR! I can occupy myself with something more than studying tonight!"

"Wait, what?! No! I have to sleep, I'm human!" Dib exclaimed to Zim. "And you! What did you do with all my clothes?!" Dib asked facing GIR.

GIR just stuck out his tongue and shrugged.

"What do you mean you don't know!?"

"Oh yeah!" GIR said, grabbing Dib by the hand and pulling him over to the window and pointing downward. Dib looked down into the lawn to find the vast majority of the clothes that were in his closet burned into ashed or torn apart by the electric fence guarding his front yard. Dib just sighed as he sat down on his bed.

_Crack!_

Dib quickly reacted and shot up off his bed to find the circular piece of glass that belonged to his window shattered and broken on his blanket. Dib just sighed and hung his head.

(Fifteen minutes later)

Dib had gotten rid of the glass that he had sat on and smashed, gotten a new blanket after throwing his other one in the wash, and slipped into his pajama bottoms and a plain white t-shirt. Dib had shown Zim how to work the TV remote and gave him a few suggestions as to what to watch during the evening hours. Dib had watched Zim chase GIR around the living room until he finally caught him and hit the off switch on the robot and set him in the closet to charge.

Dib turned off the light and closed his door, making sure the hallway light was off so the light shining though the hole in his door didn't distract him from falling asleep. Dib crawled into his bed and removed his glasses and placed them on top the alarm clock set on top a small shelf attached to the wall just under the window. Dib took the extra blanket at the foot of his bed and put it on top the first blanket he had.

Dib was about to fall asleep, but then he asked himself.

_'Am I going to wake up tomorrow and this is all going to be one big crazy dream?' _

He thought for a moment. A part of him didn't want it to be... A part of him wanted justice for all those years he was made fun of in elementary school. But then again, the other part of him didn't want some crazy alien with his hyperactive robot staying in his house and blasting holes in everything he found too complicated to open or operate... Or people like his girlfriend or his sister. And what was he going to tell his dad when he came home for a short visit?

Dib didn't want to over think the entire situation until the next morning, if this wasn't a dream.

So he just closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

(End Chapter)

**A/N: What did you guys think ? I hope you enjoyed the chapter and hope you'll leave review ! Oh, yes, one more thing, if anyone can come up with a better human name for Zim than I probably would have, let me know ! Thanks !**


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